


Degenerate Beauty Queens

by scorpiokory



Series: Multifandom High School AUs [3]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe- No Magic, Brawling, Class Differences, Closeted Character(s), Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Gang Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Period Typical Attitudes, Teenage Drama, Teenage Rebellion, Turf War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-07-29 22:56:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20090146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiokory/pseuds/scorpiokory
Summary: (originally posted on Fanfiction.net with tweaks and improvements)Everything went wrong in the Autumn of '56.





	1. The Harvest Hop (I)

**Author's Note:**

> So I originally posted this on fanfiction.net under the name Vee is a Mermaid but I deleted it. 
> 
> It was a dumpster fire and I hated it. 
> 
> i spent a while reworking it and changing up major plot points as well as adding a few more characters. Since the final movie has been released I can write this and keep with some cannon elements. 
> 
> The chapters will be much different than they were before. 
> 
> If you're new, I've made Mal a redhead because I don't believe purple hair dye existed in 1956 and it just seems right. I also changed Snow White's name to Neve (snow in Italian) and Mal's full name to Mallory because it's more practical for the period. 
> 
> I hope this version is better enjoyed by all. Now, without further ado...

_ 31 October 1956 _

* * *

***MAL***

In Auradon Halloween wasn’t widely celebrated. 

Many families refused to send their children out into the cool October air wearing indistinguishable costumes. Others were strict and religious and didn’t want their children to engage in the “ways of the devil.” 

Instead there was an annual hop at the community center for teens and young adults celebrating the harvest and traditionally it was used as a means to meet your future husband or wife. 

Mal always thought the Harvest Hop was bullshit. But Carlos had business to attend there and he needed protection. The kid was a genius, quick and light on his feet but he didn’t have the brawn. Jay went with them as well, there was strength in numbers after all. Mal still couldn’t believe she got talked into going. 

She wasn’t even remotely dressed for the occasion. 

The Westside girls would wear tea swing or circle dress with petticoats to make the skirt fuller with prim heels and gloves to match, their faces painted elegantly. Fast girls would wear sheath dresses two sizes too small with high heels and far too much makeup. The Eastside girls would wear pedal pushers with simple blouses and smart cardigans with slingback shoes and tasteful makeup. 

Mal on the other hand was wearing her signature leather jacket with a plain white t-shirt and her favorite pair “hysterectomy pants” as beauty queen has been and charm school runner “Queen” Leah had called the high waisted cuffed blue jeans Mal so adored. To complete the look she wore a beat up pair of Chuck Taylor’s that were once white. 

“You don’t have to go to the back with us.” Jay said as they waited in the coat check line. “If anything goes down I’ll holler.” Mal scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You know full well _ Jaamil _ that I would never tuck and hide and miss all the action.” “Well _ Mallory _the guys we’re dealing with are some slimy cads and considering we’re in the middle of a truce I don’t want to knock some greasy Westsiders teeth down his throat.” Mal blew air out of her nostrils. She reached into one of Jay's pockets and felt around for a dime. 

“For a Cola.” She smirked. 

* * *

***EVIE***

“It’s about time that you found a nice fella to court.” Grimhilde said as she brushed her daughter’s hair. Evie closed her eyes and nodded. “And now that you have access to the boys with standing...Don’t come home from the Hop without a few suitors. I don’t want you to be like me.” 

_ Climbing the social ladder for most of my adult life. _Evie thought bitterly. 

“And Genevieve?” “Yes Mama?” “Stay away from those hoods you used to be so fond of.” 

Just a year ago Evie and her mother were living on the Eastside of Auradon in a run down cul-de-sac. Grimhilde used to be rich, her second husband left her for a younger woman and she was forced back into near poverty. Evie was only six then and the Eastside was the only home she knew. “We used to live so lavish before he left us. I had to sell my jewels so we could eat. Do well to remember my sacrifices.” Her mother often advised her. Evie’s father died in the war when she was just shy of four and she couldn’t find herself to miss a man she couldn’t remember. 

Then Grimhilde’s luck had changed. As morbid as it was, her mother died and left a large inheritance. Grimhilde worked quickly to secure a fabulously wealthy husband. As soon as Evie’s mother started seeing Mr. White she had effectively been locked away. 

Grimhilde tutored her in “Womanly and Domestic Arts” so she would be a suitable wife and make her society debut. Evie had begged to be sent back to public school and Grimhilde agreed only after Evie told her how many boys she’d be able to meet. 

Truthfully, Evie missed her old life. She missed her friends, her family. She missed sneaking out and stealing hubcaps, drinking cheap whiskey, smoking left handed cigarettes in the old run down shack outback at Carlos’. 

She missed being free. 

“What better time to have your coming out than at the Harvest Hop?” Grimhilde smiled. “Stick to Neve like glue alright? Her friends are the _ proper _ kind of girls whose company you _ need _to keep.” Evie nodded as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Yes Mama.”

* * *

***AUDREY***

“Who is that with Neve?” Jane asked. Audrey looked over in the direction of her dear friend. On her arm was a raven haired girl that was half a head taller than her. They wore similar navy silk dresses, the mystery girl’s hem was longer, covering her calf entirely while Neve’s stopped in the middle. “They look so much alike. They’re both so pretty I mean.” Anxelin mused. Audrey straightened her back. “_Whom_ever she is, her pearls are too long.” Jane nodded in agreement. “This _ is _a choker event and she comes wearing princess.” Anxelin huffed. 

“Hush. They’re coming.” Audrey said through her teeth as she smiled. Neve hugged each of the girls and kissed either cheek. “Good evening ladies.” She smiled brightly. “I’d like you all to meet my stepsister Genevieve.” The mystery girl-Genevieve-curtsied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Neve’s told me so much about you all.” She said with a demure smile. Her cadence was even and her voice was as smooth and thick as molasses. _ She’s so impossibly poised! _Audrey screamed in her brain. “Pleasure to meet you as well. I’m Audrey and this is Jane and Anxelin.” At the mention of their names they waved. “Let’s all have a Cola, on me.” Neve suggested.

The five of them sat at the “bar” and talked idly as they sipped their Cola through straws. 

Audrey saw Genevieve’s cheeks flush a pretty pink as a miscreant Eastside girl came and ordered a Cola. Audrey scrunched her nose at the smell of motor oil and woodsy musk. _ She’d be pretty if she was born right. _Audrey thought. Her hair was in between strawberry blonde and ginger but she wore it up in a ponytail. Her clothes were all stolen or second hand no doubt and she seemed to be only wearing a coral colored lipstick. 

“E? Is that you?” She asked pointedly, her serpentine eyes putting Audrey on edge. Genevieve bristled and seemed to ignore her. “Evie don’t be a bit-” “Leave us be hood!” Anxelin snapped. “Or what?” She raised a smug eyebrow. Jane shrank behind Neve and bit her lip. “My mistake. I thought the pretty one was someone else.” She said before finishing off her Cola. 

Before she could set the bottle down she was yanked up by a black and white blur. 

“Eastside trash.” She muttered under her breath. 


	2. The Harvest Hop (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring:  
Doug  
Jay  
Neve 
> 
> Realizations are made and plans are hatched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that old fans of the original version are enjoying this one better. Since posting it in 2016 (!) I've grown as both a writer and a person. There's also more characters to work into the story and the original version didn't have a vision where this version certainly does. 
> 
> Since I use a lot of 50s slang I was wondering if I should add a lexicon at the end of every chapter. Let me know if this is something you'd be interested in. 
> 
> Enough babbling. Enjoy!

***DOUG***

“Check out the hot mama at the Cola bar.” Chad pointed with a dopey grin. “Be specific there’s at least ten girls over there.” Doug implored his oldest “friend.” Doug used the world loosely but he and Ben were the few people who put with him. “Stacked with the long pearls. Her face is like Audrey Hepburn and Rita Hayworth. Isn’t she most?” 

Doug looked over at the girl in question. She looked like she was in deep conversation with Jane and she was easily the prettiest girl he had ever seen. But he knew not to show interest, Chad was a jealous creature and Doug didn’t want to cross him. It was the general way Doug operated, keeping his head down to avoid attention he didn’t want. 

“Swell. I don’t think I’ve seen her before.” “Think she’s easy?” Chad wiggled his eyebrows. “I thought you were with Anxelin?” Doug frowned. Chad shook his head. “We went to the passion pit and had a necking session. It wasn’t serious.” Doug sighed and felt as if twenty years were taken off his life. 

Chad had a habit of going steady with a girl or at least pretending to only to get her to put out. Doug thought it was disgusting but every time he brought it up Chad would tell him that his opinion didn’t matter because he’d never been jacketed. “And plus she didn’t really razz my berries. She’s talkative but she never really talks about anything.” Doug checked his watch. Ben had told them that he would be late and Doug was anxious for him to arrive so he could buffer Chad’s bad behavior. 

Ben was the voice of reason, whenever Chad got out of line Ben was sure to set him on the straight and narrow. 

* * *

***JAY***

“Carlos Oscar de Vil what the _ fuck _ was in that bag.” Jay asked as the trio made their way to Carlos’. “It doesn’t matter. I got paid didn’t I?” Mal nodded. “He makes an excellent point. But what’s a kid like you going to do with that much cash?” “Will you two _ cut the gas? _The pair of you sound like finks.” Jay glared at him. “Cool it.” Mal stepped in between them as she sensed the tension. “We’re just teasing Spots.” She told Carlos softly. “We’re sorry if we upset you.” Carlos sighed as he opened the door to the shed. “I have something to tell you all.” He said once they were all in. 

“I’m saving up to skip town.” “What?!” Mal and Jay asked in unison. “When I turn sixteen I’m skipping town. I can’t live like this anymore. Cruella is getting worse.” Jay shook his head. “You’re not leaving. You’re staying with me.” “And if Cruella has a problem with it I’ll handle it.” Mal added. Carlos looked at his friends and smiled. Jay couldn’t help but smile with him. “We’re already one comrade down.” Mal said bitterly. “She was there. All dolled up and sipping Cola with_ Westside _broads.” Carlos gasped. “Goes missing for a year and repears as a fucking lady! Then I try to talk to her and she shuts down. You know that thing she does where her back straightens and she stays still as the dead? I was so embarrassed I had to pretend I thought she was someone different.” Jay rested a hand on Mal’s shoulder. “Relax. She’s on orders from Grimhilde no doubt. Maybe she’ll come back to school.” Carlos reassured her. Mal sighed. “Maybe.” 

Jay knew that the two girls were joined at the hip but he couldn’t fully understand the full pain Mal felt when Evie fell off the Earth. He imagined how he would feel if anything happened to Carlos. He didn’t think he’d survive it. He and Carlos were cut up about it too but they didn’t take it as bad as Mal. 

Evie was the first girl Mal considered as a friend. And out of nowhere she vanished. For a while they thought she was dead but they’d see Grimhilde around town and she didn’t seem to be mourning. She looked happy and whole lot more wealthy. 

“Holy shit!” Jay exclaimed suddenly. “What?” Mal asked suspiciously. “It is Grimhilde. She started parading around with all kinds of loot around the same time Evie went missing. Somehow she came into some money and she’s groomed Evie to be all stuck up. If there’s one thing I can say about our Evie, she’s smart as Hell and can adapt to anything.” 

* * *

***NEVE***

“Chad Charming sure is drawing designs.” Audrey laughed behind her hand. Anxelin frowned. “Not in this direction.” She huffed. Neve raised an eyebrow. “I thought that you were going steady?” “I did too.” Audrey quickly wiped the amusement from her features. “That Chad is nothing but a scoundrel.” Jane said with a firmness Neve had never heard from her. Anxelin nodded. “You did try to warn me about him. I’m sorry for not listening.” Jane shook her head. “No need to be sorry. It’s not your fault he doesn’t know how to treat a lady. I have half a mind to tell his Mama. Mrs. Charming would be appalled.” 

Neve never understood why no one took heed to Jane’s warnings of Chad. The two of them were brought up together, her Mama was his Mama’s godmother so she knew him better than anyone else. Anxelin had ignored Jane, thinking that she was being jealous. 

“Maybe we should give him a taste of his own medicine.” Genevieve said. Audrey turned to her with a mask of indifference. “What do you mean?” “He’s been making eyes at _ her. _” Anxelin said with a hand over her heart. Neve looked over at Chad. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle. “What a dog!” Audrey scoffed. “I could get him to believe that I’m interested in him and get him to be interested in me but just when he thinks it’s real I shatter his heart.” Neve turned to her stepsister in utter shock. This side of Genevieve was entirely new. Neve recalled her being playful the first time they met. She wasn’t at their parents’ wedding because she was attending finishing school in Sherwood according to Grimhilde. 

_ Neve liked to watch birds in the shade of a great hawthorn tree on the North grounds. She ventured out with her lunch in a basket humming to herself. To her surprise someone was there under her tree reading a book. As she got closer she realized it must have been Grimhilde’s daughter. There was a slight resemblance and she knew that she was getting a stepsister and the prospect excited her. Neve was lonely growing up and she had always wanted a sister. Genevieve being around her age made it even sweeter. She sat down next to her and the two of them made their introductions. “What are you reading?” Neve asked. “East of Eden.” “That’s banned at my school’s library.” Genevieve smiled. “All the best books are.” _


	3. The Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring:  
Ben  
Jane   
Carlos
> 
> Sleepy little Auradon starts to stir...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter has a non-graphic scene involving child abuse in Carlos' section.

***BEN***

Audrey’s parents were terribly old fashioned.

Rather, Audrey’s controlling grandmother was old fashioned and her parents didn’t have the nerve to challenge her. 

Back in her day there wasn’t such a thing as dating. Boys would come to call at the girl’s house and they would be heavily supervised. 

_ A proper courtship,  _ that’s what Mrs. Leah had called it. 

To Ben, it felt restrictive. 

He could only come over on weekdays in the small window after school and before ballet. Weekends were out because Audrey had her “lady lessons” on Saturday and Sundays were reserved for family and church. 

Usually they would take tea in the parlor or on the porch. 

He couldn’t hold her hand for more than ten seconds and they couldn’t link fingers. 

He could only let his lips brush her knuckles in greeting and parting. 

He couldn’t kiss her cheek or sit closer than five feet to her unless they were taking a walk in the garden. 

In the garden they could link arms when they walked. Mrs. Leah was strict when it came to skinship between the two of them. Once his hand brushed hers as they both reached for a scone and Leah had sent him home. 

Ben was starting to hate all the rules they had to follow.

They could see each other at school and at hops but Audrey was always with her friends then and Anxelin was somewhat of a busybody. 

All Ben wanted was a few minutes alone with her, to know what she was like without the watchful eyes of the Desrosiers matriarch or the tittering of her clique. Ben looked over to Audrey with an almost longing. He felt a clap on his shoulder and he knew it was Chad. 

“Don’t stare too hard else Mrs. Leah’s gonna have your hide.” Chad said with a teasing grin. “I’m breaking things off tonight.” The air around them grew tense and cold so fast that it made Ben’s head spin. Doug gasped. “That’s the reverse of the point of the Harvest Hop!” Doug protested. “Yeah, I’m with Poindexter. And you can’t quit a girl like Audrey, you just can’t.” Ben scoffed. “And when have you ever cared about girls with  _ delicate sensibilities _ ? I’m sure she’ll understand and one day when we’re grown we can get back together.”

Chad had the audacity to  _ laugh.  _ “Time won’t make her grandmother any less strict. She’s going to be under Mrs. Leah’s thumb until she’s married.” 

Ben looked over at Audrey again. She was in deep conversation with her girlfriends and he knew that for once, Chad was right.

* * *

***JANE***

Jane didn’t usually go to Hops. She would rather stay at home with a good book but her mother all but forced her out of the house. “All these pretty formal dresses, but you never wear any of them!” 

Sure, she ran with the kinds of girls who  _ lived  _ for dances but the only reason she, Neve, Audrey and Anxelin were friends was because their mothers were friends and they all went to the same swim and ballet lessons. 

Not only was Jane the youngest she was, compared to her friends, plain.

At least she thought she was. 

The other three girls all had  _ something _ . For Audrey it was a perfectly white smile, for Neve it was a perfectly symmetrical features and for Anxelin it was perfectly shiny hair. “But your eyes are prettier than Bette Davis’!” Neve would tell her whenever she brought up any of her woes. She couldn’t even imagine what her mother would tell her. 

Probably something about loving herself from the inside. 

Neve just had to bring along her step sister. 

Genevieve was just as fine as the other three girls and all of Jane’s insecurities started nagging. It wasn’t fair. Baby fat still clung to her cheeks but somehow she looked elegant and not round the way Jane did. Not fair at all. 

“I could get him to believe that I’m interested in him and get him to be interested in me but just when he thinks it’s real I shatter his heart.” Genevieve said with a wicked kind of smirk and a tone like she had done such a thing before. 

Audrey looked properly scandalized and Jane almost laughed at her loss of composure. Anxelin did it for her. “Close your mouth Aud, you may catch flies.” Audrey’s mask of Lady Desrosiers slipped back on after she shot Anxelin a look that could rot trees.

“I-it could work.” Jane said shyly. “Chad isn’t very bright.” As she said it, she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. Genevieve raised an eyebrow. “Well Jane, since you seem to be an expert you can introduce us.”

* * *

* **CARLOS* **

Waking up in the shed in his backyard was always a little bit disorienting. 

Cruella used to make him sleep in her coat closet until Carlos’ leg got caught in one of the bear traps and child services started nosing about. There were two other rooms in the house but Cruella decided that Carlos should sleep outside. “What if I need to use the bathroom?” Fury flashed in his mother’s eyes and she grabbed a rusty bucket from under the kitchen sink. It hit him in the head and he stumbled back. “You spoiled little shit! We used outhouses in my day!” She screeched. 

Carlos would wake up afraid he was in the closet behind bear traps and musty fur coats, shoved into a little corner with a threadbare sheet to keep warm. 

But the sun would shine through a tiny hole in the roof and his breathing would even out again. 

He agreed to stay at Jay’s place but he knew he couldn’t really take up that offer. He just had three more months until he was sixteen and he could jet out of town. He didn’t know where he would go but he certainly had enough capital to be left to his own devices for a little while. 

For a kid that didn’t speak until the age of four, Carlos was bright. Some might even say he was a genius but he was just good with his hands and machines. Carlos had the slightest clue as to why Westside kids would need car parts but they offered him a handsome sum and he needs all the cash he could get. 

Carlos sat up and stretched, his body aching in protest. 

He had to get back into the house to get Cruella’s breakfast fixed up before he went to school. He always dreaded the time he spent with his mother. If she wasn’t passed out in her own drunken sick she was cursing at him or beating him. 

It was a puke puddle morning to Carlos’ relief. That meant he could get a quick shower before heading out. He cooked Cruella a quick meal of toast and scrambled eggs before going back to the shed to get his things gathered up for school. 

He had a special hiding spot for all of his valuable items. 

There was a weak board in the floor but the shack wasn’t built on a foundation so Carlos dug a little pit under it and lined it with a few plastic bags to keep the bugs out. He reached in for his school bag and slung it over his shoulder. 

As he started his way to Mal’s house he felt a change in the air that wasn’t the chill of pre-Winter. 

Something was brewing. 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
